The present invention relates to a method for adjusting at least one means of an inserting apparatus as well as an inserting apparatus, such that the inserting apparatus is adjusted for processing envelopes according to at least one predetermined dimension of the envelope.
Several approaches for inserting are known, wherein, according to a first approach, the envelope is stopped during inserting. The products to be inserted are introduced into the stopped envelope. According to another approach, both the envelope and the products to be inserted are moved during the inserting process, wherein the product and the envelope essentially move along the same transport direction. The envelope and the products to be inserted are moved towards each other during the inserting process, e.g. at an angle, as it is described, for example in WO 2002/096670 A1 In other inserters, it is intended to move the products to be inserted and the envelopes together along the same transport direction in an overlapping manner but at different speeds, wherein the envelope is moved slower than the product to be inserted, so that the products are introduced into the envelope due to the speed difference, as it is described, for example, in WO 2011/138440 A1.
Inserters operating, e.g., according to the above described approaches include an envelope feed and an inserting area, each comprising different means for operating on an envelope or a product to be inserted. The inserters are implemented to process envelopes having different dimensions in different jobs. Prior to the start of job processing, the inserters are adjusted to the size of the envelopes to be processed to ensure correct and optimal processing of products and envelopes. In the envelope feed, for example, the envelope withdrawing unit and a possibly provided feeding path is adjusted such that an envelope that is withdrawn is applied to the input of the inserting area with a predetermined orientation, for example such that the envelope is applied centrally in the inserting area with respect to a width of the transport area. Alternatively or additionally, different elements can be adjusted in the inserting area to operate optimally on the provided envelope, for example the position of filling aids moving into the envelope, the position of transport elements moving the envelope through the inserting area, elements for keeping the envelope open, for example a claw moving at least partly together with the envelope that holds a first side of the envelope separate from a second side of the envelope, the position of a blow means for providing blow air for initially opening the envelope, the position of sealing elements, for example wetting units and sealing rollers subsequent to the inserting path. Further, within the inserting area, elements of the product feed can be adjusted such that a product is introduced into the centrally provided envelope, wherein it can be intended, in the case of moving products and moving envelopes, to adjust, apart from the position of the spaced elements also a speed at which the same are moved, depending on a dimension and/or orientation of the envelope to ensure optimum processing, i.e. processing generating at least one predetermined number of inserted products during a predetermined time period.
As already mentioned, the adjustment of the individual elements of the means is performed depending on a dimension or depending on several dimensions of the envelopes to be processed, for example depending on a width of the envelope, a length of the envelope, a dimension of the envelope flap, a depth of the envelope opening or mouth and/or distance of an envelope window from an edge of the envelope body or the envelope flap. For this, an envelope is measured prior to the start of processing the job to obtain the respective dimensions and to adjust the inserting apparatus accordingly depending on the received measurement results.
In the prior art, several approaches are known to detect dimensions of the products or envelopes to be processed in a paper handling plant, for example in an inserter, wherein in this regard reference is made to DE 101 36 870 A1, DE 195 19 607, U.S. Pat. No. 6,293,076 B1, U.S. Pat. No. 5,967,504 and U.S. Pat. No. 7,896,335. These publications describe approaches for measuring the products/envelopes to be processed prior to their processing to adjust the inserter prior to the start of processing a job according to the received dimension.
The envelopes are provided by envelope manufacturers, wherein the provided envelopes comprise dimensions that can vary due to manufacturing tolerances, such that the envelopes from different envelope batches may, for example, have different envelope widths, lengths or the same, which might still be within the tolerances stated by the manufacturer and can still be processed by the inserting plant with the initial adjustment, however, these variations of dimensions have the effect that processing the envelopes is no longer at an optimum, in particular for example when a deviation reaches a maximum tolerance.
This problem will be discussed in more detail below based on FIG. 1, wherein FIGS. 1(a) to 1(d) illustrate different situations where the different dimensions of an envelope change. The upper regions of the respective figures show a first envelope E1, whose dimensions have been measured at the beginning of the job for an adjustment of the inserter, and the bottom regions each show envelopes E2 whose dimensions differ from the initial dimensions.
FIG. 1(a) shows a first envelope E1 having a first width B1. The inserter or the inserting apparatus has been adjusted such that the envelope E1 is arranged centrally with respect to a transport path within the inserting area (see dotted line Z). The envelope E1 comprises an envelope body K1, an envelope flap F1 and an envelope opening M1. For filling the envelope with a product not illustrated in FIG. 1(a), a filling aid having two filling elements 100a, 100b is provided, which are introduced into the envelope body K1 and serve to guide a product to be introduced into the envelope A1, such that same does not come into contact with the lateral edges R1 and R2 of the envelope E1. This ensures unobstructed filling of the envelope. The filling elements 100a, 100b are provided to support filling of the envelope, transport of the envelope is not to be performed, such that the filling elements are arranged spaced apart from edges R1, R2. The arrangement of the filling elements 100a, 100b illustrated in FIG. 1(a) with respect to the envelope E1 allows optimum operation of the inserting apparatus. If a dimension of the envelope changes, for example a width, its optimum processing might no longer be ensured. The envelope E1 has a width B1 and is arranged centrally with respect to this width (see correspondence of dotted lines M and Z). If an envelope E2 is obtained comprising a width B2, which is smaller than a width B1, but still lies, e.g., within the tolerance stated by the manufacturer, this has the effect that due to the adjustments in the envelope feed, feeding the envelope E2 is performed the same way as feeding the envelope E1, such that the envelope E2 is no longer oriented to the center of the transport with its center seen in a width direction (see deviation of dotted lines M and Z) as schematically shown in the bottom region of FIG. 1(a). This has the effect that the filling elements 100a, 100b can still be introduced into the envelope E2, but the filling element 100a contacts the edge R1 of the envelope E2, which can cause problems, for example damages of the envelope in the area of the edge R1 or problems when withdrawing the filled envelope or the same, such that optimum inserting is no longer ensured.
FIG. 1(b) shows a further problem which can result when the envelope width changes. FIG. 1(b) shows a similar situation as FIG. 1(a), namely two envelopes E1 and E2 having different widths. For the envelope E1, its central line M coincides with the center of the transport path in the inserter, and an envelope transport keeps the envelope E1 centrally, as is shown by the arrow in the upper illustration in FIG. 1(b). If the width of the envelope changes, as it is the case for the envelope E2, the central line M of the envelope E2 is outside the transport path, such that respective envelope transport also grips off-center, such that the torques acting on the envelope might lead to a non-optimum transport of the envelope and to possible problems due to the different width dimensions.
Based on FIG. 1(c), a further problem is illustrated which can occur when processing envelopes of different dimensions. FIG. 1(c) shows a first envelope E1 having an envelope opening M1 whose depth has a dimension L1 in transport direction. Schematically, a claw 102 is shown engaging the back of the envelope E1, and keeps the same separated from an underlying front of the envelope E1, such that the envelope E1 is kept open during an inserting process. If, for example due to tolerances, a size of the envelope depth of the opening changes, as shown in the bottom region of FIG. 1(c), a situation can occur where the claw 102 no longer engages the back of the envelope, as shown in FIG. 1(c), namely when the depth of the envelope opening of the envelope E2 is larger than the depth of the envelope opening of envelope E1.
Based on FIG. 1(d), a further problem is illustrated that can occur when processing envelopes of different dimensions, in particular with envelopes whose length changes within the tolerance range. FIG. 1(d) shows, in the upper region, the envelope E1 of length L1 in transport direction, wherein a product G1 introduced into the envelope E1 is illustrated in a shaded manner, which is moved by product transport elements 104a, 104b into the envelope E1. The envelope transport elements 104a and 104b are adjusted such that the same are moved to effect complete introduction of the product G1 into the envelope E1, which is performed depending on the length L1 of the envelope E1. If the length L1 changes, for example in a way as is shown in FIG. 1(d), such that the length L2 of the envelope E2 is smaller than the length L1 of the envelope E1, this will have the effect that the transport elements 104a, 104b no longer introduce a product G2 completely into the envelope E2, such that an area X projects from the envelope opening, which can result in problems during further inserting, in particular when sealing the envelope.
The problems described based on FIG. 1 occur since the inserting apparatus had been adjusted at the beginning of a job to process the envelope E1 of the respective dimensions, but the dimensions of the envelope can change in the above described manner due to manufacturing tolerances, such that the operation of the inserting plant might be interfered with, but is at least no longer at an optimum, i.e. compared to processing envelopes of dimensions according to the envelope E1, with changing dimensions, the number of envelopes to be processable during a predetermined time at least be reduced, since due to the non-optimum operation either the speed has to be changed or disruptions due to errors increase.
In the context of paper processing plants, approaches are known for reacting to changes of supplements or a paper web. EP 1 942 464 B1 describes a method where readjustment of a supplement feed to a gathering web is performed due to measurement values. U.S. Pat. No. 5,130,558 A describes a method where products are measured before the same are inserted. DE 602 11 376 T2 describes measurement of a moving paper web, such that variations in the paper web width can be dealt with. Inserters and changes of dimensions of the envelope are not discussed.
As far as the approaches described in the above stated publications relate to dimensions of envelopes, it has to be stated that the same merely relate to the dimension of an envelope prior to turning-on the inserting apparatus to perform adjustment of the inserting plant depending on the dimension of the envelope. The above described problems occurring due to the changes of dimensions of the envelope due to manufacturing tolerances of the envelope are not mentioned. Further, measuring the envelope is performed during standstill of the envelope.